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Gay marriage hearing shows judges' conservative side: media report

Gay Marriage Rally

Lester Perryman, from the human rights campaign, leads the crowd during a rally at Jackson Square after a day of major victory for gay rights on June 26, 2013. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down a provision of a federal law denying federal benefits to married gay couples and cleared the way for the resumption of same-sex marriage in California. (Photo by Kathleen Flynn, Nola.com / The Times-Picayune)

A federal appeals court in Cincinnati heard arguments on gay marriage bans in four states Wednesday. Audio from the hearings -- running three hours in total -- can be heard at the website for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The three-judge panel in the 6th Circuit, which hears cases from Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky, is the third federal appeals court to hold hearings on same-sex marriage. While rulings so far have sided with gay marriage advocates, the 6th Circuit is regarded as more conservative than the courts that have ruled to date. Louisiana's ban on gay marriage is under review by U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman.

The Washington Post's coverage of the hearing includes a pretty substantial look at the three judges.

The New York Times noted that Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton -- one of two George W. Bush appointees hearing the case -- sounded skeptical that gay marriage activists needed the courts to grant them full marriage rights:

"I'd have thought the best way to get respect and dignity is through the democratic process," he said, expressing a view that, in practice, would most likely deliver a victory to the states seeking to keep bans on same-sex marriage.

Clinton appointee Martha Craig Daughtrey got off some of the best one-liners during "caustic" questioning of lawyers for the states who defended the bans, the Post reported. The senior judge zinged Ohio Solicitor General Eric Murphy after he argued voters in the states could approve same-same sex marriage any time, asking him if he knew how long it took for women to win the right to vote.

"Seventy-eight years," she said, of trying to persuade states and localities to grant the franchise before an amendment to the Constitution finally settled the issue.

She said she wasn't asking Murphy to respond. "I just thought you'd like to know that if you're ever on 'Jeopardy,'" she said.

If the 6th Circuit does reverse lower court rulings in the four states, it might actually benefit gay-marriage backers -- with three favorable rulings in other circuits, an opinion against gay marriage would create a "circuit split," which could speed the issue to a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.